MENLO PARK, California (AP) -- They may sport love handles and Ivy League degrees, but every two weeks, some Silicon Valley techies turn into vicious street brawlers in a real-life, underground fight club.

Kicking, punching and swinging every household object imaginable -- from frying pans and tennis rackets to pillowcases stuffed with soda cans -- they beat each other mercilessly in a garage in this bedroom community south of San Francisco.

Then, bloodied and bruised, they limp back to their desks in the morning.

"When you get beat down enough, it becomes a very un-macho thing," said Shiyin Siou, 34, a Santa Clara software engineer and three-year veteran of the clandestine fights. "But I don't need this to prove I'm macho -- I'm macho enough as it is."

Inspired by the 1999 film "Fight Club," starring Brad Pitt and Ed Norton, underground bare-knuckle brawling clubs have sprung up across the country as a way for desk jockeys and disgruntled youths to vent their frustrations and prove themselves.

"This is as close as you can get to a real fight, even though I've never been in one," the soft-spoken Siou said.

Despite his reserved demeanor, he daydreams about inflicting pain on an attacker. "I have fantasies about it," he said.

I enjoyed that movie. I thought the idea behind FightClub, the actual senseless fighting, was a unique idea. Men instinctively have an instinct that is relatively primal. If not exercised in some form, hunting, sports, manual labor, etc., a man will probably go crazy and resort to something dangerous. So, while I think being in a FightClub is probably too dangerous to be reasonable, I completely understand why many people would want to be a part of one.

i remember in Jr High and High School my friends and i would get into wrestling matches which usually ended with whoever could get someone in a headlock/chokehold...but never any bareknuckle brawls just for fun